N.Y. Rangers: Chris Kreider Hat Trick Hastens Devils Disappearing Act

From the desk: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS  &  THE BRICK CITY STYX

BATTLE OF THE HUDSON

Devils lead Rangers; 2-1

I - NJD 4; NYR 3

II - NJD 5; NYR 2

III - NYR 6; NJD 1

SATURDAY

Rangers 

vs.

Devils

FROM 

NEWARK

Filip Chytil's Return Impacts Team in More Ways That One

The beleaguered Mike Zibanejad for major portions of Thursday's game at Newark was withheld from Coach Quinn's ice.  There's no controversy; it was well deserved, in a manner of speaking.  He is otherwise usually out there for the most shifts and ice time.  But despite two points in his last two games and the primary assist on Alexis Lafreniere's third-period goal, everyone knows Mika is struggling with just two goals and eight points through 21 games.  Last season through the same number of games, Mika scored at a torrid pace with eleven goals and 13 assists for 24 points.  Said another way, he is presently scoring two-thirds less than last season.

Meanwhile, Filip Chytil is two games into his return from injury and already has a point, his fourth in only seven games played this season.  But there's a rub.  During Filip Chytil's seven games played, Mike Zibanejad also registered four points.  In Mika's 14 games played in Chytil's absence, he registered only four points.  Now that Chytil is back, he and Zibanejad scored a point in the same game for the third time.  I'm inclined to think none of this is mere coincidence.  

So, what's a head coach to do?  Does Quinn bump Filip Chytil up to the first line and either bump everyone down a spot or leave Ryan Strome on the second line and drop Zibanejad down on the third line?

In the continuing absence of Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba, and Kaapo Kakko, the onus is on Blueshirts veterans to pick up the slack.  Pavel Buchnevich has five points in his last four games, and Chris Kreider is in the midst of one of those mind-boggling streaks we've witnessed so many times before.  With a natural hat-trick against the Devils, Kreider now has seven goals in his last nine games, including two hat-tricks.  He now has 13 goals and 15 points for the season.  Let's enjoy it while it lasts because history says these bursts of brilliance come and go.

Here comes Alexis Lafreniere!  After notching just two points in his first 16 games, the Blueshirts teenager now has two goals and five points in his last four games while finally playing consistently alongside the Rangers' other top-five forwards.

Igor Shesterkin was brilliant, that is, until succumbing to a non-contact leg injury with just under 6:00 left in the third period.  He left the ice, clearly favoring one leg.  At the same time, it confirms the need for depth within the pipes.  No confidence was lost with having Alexandar Georgiev minding the net.  But Igor was indeed winning the day.

Moreover, if it wasn't for Igor, the Rangers, in all practicality, should have lost Thursday's game.  The best centerman on the ice, Jack Hughes, opened the scoring at 7:12 of the first period.  But Shesterkin performed cartwheels in shutting out Newark the rest of the way.  Newark won 16 more faceoffs than the Rangers, which correlated into 36 shots on goal versus just 19 shots for the Rangers.  Mackenzie Blackwood was pulled early in the third period of Thursday's game.  At some point, the Devils effectively stopped playing in front of him.  

Blackwood is otherwise sporting a .912 Sv% and 2.77 GAA through eleven starts.

After a quick start to the season, the Devils have now lost seven of eight since returning from COVID hell.  Losing two of three against the Sabres is most troublesome.  They were also playing Thursday yet again, minus their captain Nico Hischier, who is now in concussion protocol, not to mention suffering a broken nose/sinus fracture.  He will not be returning soon. 

Second-year Jack Hughes has five goals and 13 points in 19 games, and despite Newark fortunes, Miles Wood and Ty Smith continue to impress as well.  Wood leads the team with seven goals, and Smith leads with nine assists.  

Should Wood and particularly defenseman Ty Smith be having betters seasons than Kyle Palmiere?  That's a discussion worth having.  The Devils are no doubt strong up the middle, unlike the Rangers.  Bit whereas the Rangers appear string on the wing, the Devils do not.  

But aren't they too a rebuilding team?

On that note, Coach Lindy Ruff doesn't seem to be winning over the masses either.  Rangers fans know what that's like from when he coached the Broadway blueliners to certain fan dissatisfaction.

Hockey Night in Metropolis: Rangers and Islanders Up; Sabres and Devils Down

From the desk: RAISE GRESCHER WITH THE GREATS

TUESDAY

Buffalo   2

Manhattan 3

FINAL

Eight Avenue - Like I've been saying, face-offs mean possession; possession means shots on goal.  The Blueshirts lost the face-off battle 26-18 and were behind in shots on goal 24-29 to Buffalo.  Just so happens that Kevin Rooney was 0/6 on face-offs.  However, the Rangers get away with it because they're playing the beleaguered Sabres.  Otherwise, the Rangers have two players getting into a groove at the same time.  Chris Kreider scores his fifth goal in the last four games bringing him to ten goals in 20 games, and Alexis Lafreniere scores his third goal of the season for his third point in his last three games.  Perhaps still motivated (pissed off) when he got bumped off the first line, Pavel Buchnevich led the team with four shots and notched his sixth goal with an assist for two points, giving him seven points in his last seven games.

Out of 20 regular-season games, Igor Shesterkin has starter twelve and appeared in 13 games.  So we're beginning to get a clearer picture in which direction Coach Quinn (or management, or both) is leaning.  He stopped 22/24 shots against Buffalo and now owns a .932 Sv% and a 2.52 GAA.

You might say Buffalo lost this game right out of the gate and simply failed to make up ground.  Buchnevich scored just 0:28 seconds into the game, assisted by Adam Fox and point-starved Mika Zibanejad.  But the Rangers were guilty of the "two-minute sin" as well when Sam Reinhart scored a mere 27-seconds later.  Alexis Lafreniere then set Buffalo back at the 2:36 mark of the first period.  Chris Kreider put the Rangers ahead 3-1 at the 9:32 mark of the second.  Tobias Rieder cut the deficit to one at the 16:21 mark, but the Sabres would creep no closer.  The teams skated through a scoreless third period en route to a 3-2 final.

Filip Chytil is back!  Thank goodness.

For the Rangers, their fourth win in their last six, and for the Sabres, their fourth loss in a row and fifth in the last six.

🏒

From the desks: THE BRICK CITY STYX & LONG ISLAND NOMADS

TUESDAY

Uniondale 2

Newark    1

FINAL

Across the Hudson - A close game considering the Devils - much like the Rangers - are young and upcoming, rebuilding, with a head coach starting to rub people the wrong way.  Whereas the Islanders are a band of tough established veterans in winnow mode.  What do both teams have in common?  They have vastly superior centermen than the New York Rangers.

I digress ...

The Islanders did what they do, grind, confound, and outlast you.  After two scoreless periods, the Isles finally began wearing on the Devils.  Have stick will find - team assists leader Nick Leddy fed Oliver Wahlstrom at the 1:10 mark of the third period to open the scoring; Jean Gabriel-Pageau had the secondary assist.  Then at 7:51, the Isles strike again.  Anders Lee converts on feeds from Andy Greene and Mathew Barzal.

Miles Woods ruined the shutout with 0:14 left in regulation.  Wood had a team-high five shots on goal.  The Buffalo, New York, native now has seven goals and eleven points through 18 games.  Making just his second start for Newark, goalie Aaron Dell faced just 20 shots, stopping all but two.  Meanwhile, the Devils mounted 29 shots on goal against Semyon Varlamov, who stopped all but one.  He made seven saves on the penalty kill.  Thus the Devils wound up 0/4 on the power play.  But you can't kill Jersey for lack of ... anything, really.  The effort and opportunities were there.

🏒

And now, for the Centermen of Attention:

• BUF: ten SOG; two goals; one assist; three points.
• NYR: five SOG; no goals; one assist; one point.
• NJD: five SOG; no goals; one assist; one point.
• NYI: eight SOG; one goal; two assists; three points.

N.J. Devils: Look What The Washington Capitals Did To Newark, Again

From the desk: THE BRICK CITY STYX

Capitals lead Devils; 3-0

I - WAS; 4; NJD 3

II - WAS 5; NJD 2

III - WAS 3; NJD 2

Newark Suffers Puck Luck Two Nights In A Row

The Devils are simultaneously rebuilding and falling apart before our eyes.  Since returning from their own COVID in-team pandemic, they've lost five of their last eight.  On Sunday, Nico Hischier sustained a puck to the face Saturday.  Then late in the third period against Washington on Sunday, Miles Wood exited the ice after taking a puck to the head on an attempted clear by Zdeno Chara.

From Sunday to Sunday, this marks the Devils' third loss against Washington in the last week in which they've been outscored by a 12-7 margin.  

With Nico Hischier out, the Devils were outdone on the faceoff by a 37-18 margin.

After trading goals in the first, then trading another pair of goals very early in the second period, Alex Ovechkin scored the go-ahead goal at 13:37 of the second.  Newark put themselves in a position to knot the game in the closing seconds; Pavel Zacha's shot was stopped by Ilya Samsonov, but Kyle Palmieri failed to put home a loose puck in front and game over.

New Jersey's scoring came courtesy of their rookies.  Winger Mikhail Maltsev netted his second of the season on a wrister from the right circle at 6:45 of the opening period.  Just 0:48 seconds after Nicklas Backstrom gave the Capas a 2-1 lead in the second, Yegor Sharangovich came barreling down the middle to score his third goal of the season, tying the game at two.

Hockey Night in New York State: Long Island Up; Buffalo Down

From the desk: HOCKEY NIGHT IN NEW YORK STATE

NYR Centermen vs. Flyers

ten shots on goal; four assists

🏒

THURSDAY

Devils    4

Sabres   3

FINAL

BUFFALO - Devils center Nico Hischier scores his first goal since returning to action one week ago.  After falling behind in the first period, Jesper Bratt ties the game at one at the 5:27 mark.  But Dmitry Kulikov gets called for slashing and Casey Mittelstadt puts the Sabres back in front.  The lead doesn't last long.  Miles Wood opens the third period with a power-play goal at 4:25, and just over two minutes later Hischier finds the net giving Newark a 3-2 lead.  However, Sam Reinhart's power-play goal at 15:30 sends the game into overtime.  Buffalo then commits a cardinal sin of hockey: allowing a goal in the first or last two minutes of a period.  At 1:17 of overtime, Pavel Zacha finds the back of the net ending the game.

The Devils level out at 3-3 since returning from COVID lockdown.

Miles Wood with his sixth goal earned his 9th point in 15 games.

Now for my stick it to the New York Rangers segment.  Newark centermen accounted for 18 of the Devils 40 shots on goal.  They come away with two goals and two assists for four points. 

THURSDAY

Bruins       2

Islanders  7

FINAL

LONG ISLAND - Look what the Isles did to the Bruins, again!  As I always say, once is an event, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a trend.  With a third victory over the division-leading Bruins, the Islanders appear to finally be taking major steps forward towards the heights of the division.  Long Island has now outscored Boston by a whopping 12-4 margin through three contests.  

In my effort to keep sticking it to the Rangers, Long Island centerman joined for 14 shots on goal, with two goals and three assists for five points.   

Rangers vs. Devils: Battle of the Hudson Resumes

From the desk: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS & THE BRICK CITY STYX

BATTLE of the HUDSON

TUESDAY

New Jersey Devils

vs.

New York Rangers

FROM

The 33rd Street Ice House

DEVILS PUSH BOSTON BRUINS TO OUTER LIMITS

Playing for new head coach Lindy Ruff, the young New Jersey Devils wrapped up two tightly contested games against the Bruins.  Last Thursday's season opener saw the Devils fall behind late in the first period on a power-play goal by Brad Marchand.  Miles Wood ties the game at the 8:51 mark of the third.  After yielding a second power-play goal to the Bruins, Ty Smith ties the game at two, and into overtime, they go.  After a scoreless extra session, Newark comes up empty in the shootout.  Brad Marchand once again finds the back of the net against Mackenzie Blackwood.

On Saturday, the Devils answer back.  Miles Wood opens the scoring at 16:15 of the first period.  But the Bruins tie late in the second on a short-handed goal from Patrice Bergeron.  After a scoreless third period, the two teams once again head into overtime.  Mackenzie Blackwood pitches a shutout, and with just 0:01 left on the clock, KHL vet and 22-year old NHL rookie Yegor Sharangovich scores his first career goal with the Devils ... game over.

• Goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, through two games, has faced 65 shots on goal, with 62 saves.  All three goals against have come on special teams.  
• Jack Hughes, through two games, has assisted on all three N.J. goals.  
• Travis Zajac begins his fifteenth season with the Devils.
• Nico Hischier remains out with a leg injury.
• The Devils and Rangers will play four games straight game in April.

A LOOK BACK AT RECENT DRAFTS

• 2017 - Devils select (C) Nico Hischier with the number one overall pick; Rangers select (C) Filip Chytil with the 21st overall pick.
• 2018 - Devils select (D) Ty Smith 17th overall.
• 2019 - Devils select (C) Jack Hughes with the first overall pick of the draft; Rangers select (RW) Kaapo Kakko with the very next pick (second overall).
• 2020 - Rangers select (LW) Alexis Lafreniere with the first overall pick of the draft; Devils select (RW) Alexander Holtz with the seventh overall pick. 

Alexis LaFreniere and Kaapo Kakko are both just nineteen years old.  Selected in the first round of the 2018 draft, K'Andre Miller is about to join 2017 first-round pick Filip Chytil as the team's resident 21-year olds.  Otherwise, the Rangers have fifteen players age twenty-five or younger and just two players over thirty years old.

ISLANDERS ADMINISTER OPENING NIGHT BEATDOWN

In last Thursday's opener against the Islanders, Igor Shesterkin faced 33 shots and made 29 saves, allowing two power-play goals and two at even strength.  At the other end of the ice, Semyon Varlamov faced just 24 shots by the Rangers, stopping them all for the shutout.  The Rangers' shot total is a direct result of affording the Islanders eight power-play opportunities.  You can't generate offense if you're too busy killing penalties.  Mika Zibanejad, who battled COVID, led the Rangers in shifts and with five shots on goal.  No other Ranger exceeded two shots on goal.  Once the Islanders achieved a 4-0 lead in the second, all they needed to ensure was the Rangers stayed in their playpen.

REMATCH: RUGRATS STRIKE BACK

As if with a flip of a switch, the Rangers roll the Islanders in likewise fashion on Saturday.  This time, the Isles afford the Rangers seven PP opportunities, who convert once in the third period.  Conversely, the Rangers limit the Islanders to four opportunities.  The Islanders still won face-offs 31-25, but unlike Thursday, the Rangers played more even-strength hockey and thus put more shots on goal.  Pavel Buchnevich sent an early message with an opening goal at the 2:12 mark of the first.  Artemi Panarin made it a 2-0 game midway through the period.  Buchnevich scored his second goal in the second period, and youngster Kaapo Kakko scored his first.  Panarin capped off the Rangers scoring in the third also with his second goal of the game.  

The performance in goal was similarly like night and day.  Alexandar Georgiev made the start.  He faced 23 shots and stopped them all for the shutout.  But unlike Thursday, the Rangers played far more competently in front of Georgiev than for Igor Shesterkin.